China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
China spends serious money on 3G
November 1, 2009
China has invested nearly RMB100 billion (US$14 billion) on 3G technology so far this year. This, of course, has been a shot in the arm for the mobile telephone industry.By the end of this year Chinese telecommunications carriers will have 3G signals in more than 300 major cities nationwide. This according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on its website.
The Ministry in a statement, said, "The 3G investment has boosted the development of the whole industry, especially laptop and chip sectors, and fueled the country’s economy during the global financial crisis." 
All of which may, in itself, be justification for 3G.
In January, China issued 3G licenses to three carriers. China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have invested heavily to construct 3G base stations nationwide.
Shanghai Daily reports that in the first eight months, mobile communications base station turnover jumped 147.4% year-on-year. The laptop turnover grew 32.4% year-on-year, compared with the total PC growth of 17.7%, according to the ministry.
Through 3G networks, laptop users can access mobile broadband services.